Fielding Gray Read online

  'Here's that “unwholesome” writer at it again, weaving a nasty fascinating tale of corruption and intrigue'

  Queen

  'It may be wicked, but few things are more amusing than well-spiced gossip and Simon Raven's novels have just this quality, the quality of good gossip, brisk, bawdy and reckless'

  Evening Standard

  Fielding Gray

  'would appear to be a novel to avoid. But Mr. Raven is such a talented writer and acute and witty observer of human frailties that he can make an unpleasant theme palatable'

  Daily Mail

  'Revolting as Simon Raven's characters are beneath their thin veneer of civilized behaviour, they are caught with such unerring skill that one is mesmerized by their smooth malevolence'

  Morning Star

  'Mr. Raven never fails for shocking comic turns'

  Spectator

  'Diamond-sharp ... this is a real novel'

  Evening Standard

  Fielding Gray is groping his way towards manhood. Golden toy of his public school, potential Cambridge scholar, he seems all set for the easy accolades of upper-class society. In his last summer holiday from school, he has his first urgent, fevered sexual encounters with girls. He loses his innocence by degrees — with the teasing Angela Tuck in games of strip poker ... with fearful Dixie in a fairground Ghost Train ... and, finally, with a coldly efficient prostitute in a little room with a big bed.

  But 17 year old Fielding is himself a corrupter. His careless debauchment of a younger schoolfellow leads to a sexual tragedy of uncontrollable proportions — and Fielding's future begins to look much less rosy ...

  Simon Raven in this novel displays to the full his unrivalled talents as a chronicler of corruption in high places.

  By the bestselling author of The Judas Boy

  Cover photograph by Josef Gross

  U.K.30p AUSTRALIA & NEWZEALAND 95c

  Granada Publishing Limited

  Published in 1969 by Panther Books Ltd

  3 Upper James Street, London W1R 4BP

  Reprinted 1969,1972

  First published in Great Britain by Anthony Blond Limited 1967

  Copyright © Simon Raven 1967

  Made and printed in Great Britain by

  Cox & Wyman Ltd

  London, Reading and Fakenham

  Set in Intertype Times

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  This book is published at a net price and is supplied subject to the Publishers Association Standard Conditions of Sale registered under the Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1956.

  Fielding Gray

  TVM Edition

  A LIST OF THE CHARACTERS WHO HAVE SO FAR

  APPEARED IN THE ALMS FOR OBLIVION SEQUENCE.

  In The Rich Pay Late, the action of which takes place in 1955 and 56:

  Donald Salinger, a businessman.

  Jude Holbrook, his friend and partner.

  Miss Beatty, a secretary in the firm of Salinger & Holbrook.

  Mrs. Beatty, her mother.

  Ashley Dexterside, friend and employee of Donald Salinger.

  Vanessa Drew, Donald's fiancee and later his wife.

  Penelope Holbrook, formerly a model; now married to Jude.

  Donald (Donny) Holbrook, their four-year-old son.

  Anthony Holbrook, Jude's father; a miser.

  Mrs. Anthony Holbrook, Jude's mother; a bluestocking.

  Somerset Lloyd-James, editor of Strix, an economic journal.

  Tom Llewyllyn, author, journalist and contributor to Strix.

  Tessie Buttock, owner of Buttock's Private Hotel, where Tom hangs out.

  Peter Morrison, a squire of substance in East Anglia and a Member of Parliament, where he leads the 'Young England' group.

  Captain Detterling, formerly a regular officer of the 49th Earl Hamilton's Light Dragoons; now a Member of Parliament and a political supporter of Morrison's.

  Carton Weir, Member of Parliament and another supporter of Morrison's; a friend of Ashley Dexterside.

  Maisie, a whore.

  'Young' John Groves, a dubious lawyer.

  Jonathan Gamp, a not so young man about town.

  Henry Dilkes, Secretary to the Institute of Political and Economic Studies and a member of the Board of Strix.

  Robert Constable, formerly Fellow and Tutor of Lancaster College, Cambridge; now Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salop, in which he is also Professor of Economics and as such an ex officio member of the board of Strix.

  Lord Philby, son of the founder of Strix and now its proprietor.

  Jimmy, a layabout and old associate of Vanessa Drew's.

  Ivan Blessington, formerly of Earl Hamilton's Light Dragoons and now an attache in Washington.

  Lady Susan Grange, later Lady Philby.

  Mrs. (Angela) Tuck, an adventuress.

  Tuck, sometime her husband.

  Mark Lewson, a con-man.

  Felicity Lewson ('the Contessa'), his wife and assistant.

  Burke Lawrence, a publicity man and film director.

  Jake Vincent, an East Anglian peasant.

  Betty Vincent, his wife.

  Max de Freville, a gambler and connoisseur of human affairs.

  Doctor La Soeur, a confidential practitioner.

  Helen Morrison, Peter's wife.

  Alfec Schroeder, a journalist employed by the Billingsgate Press.

  The Reverend Mr. Purchase.

  Gregory Stern, a publisher (of Tom Llewyllyn among others).

  In Friends in Low Places, the events of which take place three years later, in 1959:

  Mark Lewson, now a widower and temporarily living off ...

  Angela Tuck, who has inherited some money from her dead husband and now lives quietly on it, and on drink, in the South of France.

  Max de Freville, who has formed a Platonic liaison with Angela.

  Stratis Lykiadopoulos, a Greek gambler and friend of Max.

  Rupert Percival, a country lawyer of Bishop's Cross, Somersetshire.

  Alastair Dixon, his friend, a Member of Parliament for Bishop's Cross but now about to retire.

  Peter Morrison, who has resigned his seat in Parliament in 1956 but now seeks re-election and wishes to be nominated as Conservative Candidate for Bishop's Cross.

  Helen Morrison.

  Nickie and Jeremy Morrison (aged eight and five), their sons.

  Somerset Lloyd-James, Peter's competitor for the Conservative nomination at Bishop's Cross; still editor of Strix.

  Maisie, still a whore.

  Major Fielding Gray, formerly a regular officer of the 49th Earl Hamilton's Light Dragoons, but now retired because of wounds received in Cyprus in 1958 and ambitious to become a writer; an old school friend of Somerset Lloyd-James's, to whom he applies for help.

  Tom Llewyllyn, now much advanced in his profession.

  Tessie Buttock.

  Sir Edwin Turbot, a Minister of the Crown.

  Patricia Turbot, his daughter, engaged to marry Tom Llewyllyn

  Isobel Turbot, Patricia's younger sister.

  Captain Detterling. M.P., who has now purchased a directorship in the firm of...

  Gregory Stern, the publisher, who takes on Fielding Gray.

  The Most Honourable the Marquis Canteloupe, a distant cousin of Detterling's; a successful operator in the Stately Homes game and an amateur politician.

  The Marchioness Canteloupe.

  The Dowager Marchioness Canteloupe.

  Carton Wei
r, M.P., aide to Canteloupe.

  Burke Lawrence, now teamed up with ...

  Penelope Holbrook, who was divorced from Jude in 1956.

  Henry Dilkes.

  Robert Constable, now Provost-elect of Lancaster College, Cambridge.

  Lord Philby.

  Jonathan Gamp.

  Jude Holbrook, now an 'agent'.

  Alfie Schroeder.

  Donald and Vanessa Salinger.

  Lieutenant-Colonel Hookeby, 'Commandant' of Westward Ho, the first of Canteloupe's 'Country Culture Camps'.

  Sergeant-Major Cruxtable, physical fitness expert.

  Mrs. Anthony Holbrook.

  In The Sabre Squadron, which goes back in time to 1952:

  Daniel Mond, a mathematician and research student of Lancaster College, Cambridge.

  Robert Constable, at that time Tutor of Lancaster.

  Jacquiz Helmut, a historian and research student of Lancaster.

  Herr Doktor Aeneas von Bremke, a prominent mathematician in the University of Göttingen.

  Earle Restarick, an American student at Göttingen.

  Cornet Julian James, a national service officer of the 49th Earl Hamilton's Light Dragoons and an old college friend of Daniel Mond's.

  Major Giles Glastonbury, officer commanding the 10th Sabre Squadron of Earl Hamilton's Light Dragoons.

  Lieutenant (Mick) Motley, temporarily of the R.A.M.C.

  Captain Fielding Gray, second in command to Major Glastonbury.

  Lieutenants Jack Lamprey and Piers Bungay, also of the 10th Sabre Squadron.

  Trooper Michael Lamb, Captain Gray's driver.

  Lieutenant Leonard Percival, of the Wessex Fusiliers; nephew to Rupert Percival (Friends in Low Places).

  The 'Ghost' of Conrad Stern (Gregory Stern's brother).

  Herr Pappenheim, who is shortly to become an important Staff Officer in the new German Army.

  The Graf von Augsburg, a duellist.

  Tuck, at that time an official on the Control Commission.

  Captain Detterling, M.P., recently retired from Earl Hamilton's.

  Squadron Sergeant-Major Bunce. of the 10th Sabre Squadron.

  Corporal-Major Chead, of the 10th Sabre Squadron.

  Mugger, a storeman.

  Trooper Geddes, the Squadron barber.

  Regimental Sergeant-Major Holeworthy, of the Wessex Fusiliers.

  Ivan Blessington, an officer of Earl Hamilton's but currently employed as A.D.C. to the Divisional Commander.

  Alfie Schroeder.

  Captain 'Bagger' Hennessy of the Coldstream Guards.

  Colonel Haq. an obscene Turk.

  Of the above, the following now appear, either as children or very much younger adults, in Fielding Gray, which goes back still further in time - to 1945:

  Fielding Gray, at this time a boy of seventeen and a half with another year before him at his public school.

  Peter Morrison, Head boy of Fielding's House but shortly to leave school for the Army.

  Somerset Lloyd-James, at the same school but in a different House. Like Fielding, he has another year at school.

  Major Robert Constable, who has seen active service during the war and is now being early released from the Army to take up the post of Tutor at Lancaster College, Cambridge.

  Ivan Blessington, a boy in Fielding's House.

  Captain Detterling, at this time still serving as a regular officer in the 49th Earl Hamilton's Light Dragoons. His present job is to recruit suitable officers for the Cavalry Regiments,

  Angela Tuck, twenty-one years old and recently married to Tuck in India.

  Tuck, at present the employee of a tea-planting concern in India. He is on long leave in England, where he is to recruit young men and money for the plantation he represents.

  The following new characters also appear:

  Christopher Roland, whom Fielding loves.

  The Headmaster, a man of conscience.

  The Senior Usher, a wordly and talented pedagogue.

  Old Frank, cricket professional at the school.

  John Aloysius (Jack) Gray, Fielding's father, a businessman of low tastes.

  Mrs. Gray, Fielding's mother.

  Phyllis and Dixie, girls of the lower class.

  'Glinter' Parkes, a small boy of resource.

  'Squire' Morrison, Peter's father,

  Johnny Pitts, tenant of the above; an amateur jockey.

  Mr. Japhet, a provincial lawyer.

  A Prostitute.

  Mr. and Mrs. Roland, Christopher's parents.

  A Private Soldier.

  A Garage Proprietor.

  A Colour Sergeant.

  A Sergeant-Major.

  EXTRACT FROM CHAPTER 6 OF FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES (ALMS FOR OBLIVION. VOLUME II)

  'Right,' [said Gregory Stern the publisher] 'I'll take your two novels for an advance of £200 each, on the understanding that you'll loosen them up in the way I've suggested. Our editor has details'

  He pressed a buzzer on his desk.

  'You'll be given a cheque now,' he said, 'and you can fix an appointment with our editor for tomorrow. We'll do our best to publish the first of them - the Court-Martial one -in October. But' - his fingers flew over his coat buttons and then up to test his lower teeth - 'what I'm really interested in is what you can do with that journal. I'm commissioning you to make a novel of it in the sum of £100 down, a further £100 on delivery and yet a further £100 on the day of publication - all this, of course, being an advance against royalties on the usual scale.'

  'This is generous,' said Fielding Gray, who was resisting a strong impulse to cry.

  EXTRACT FROM FIELDING GRAY'S WORKING NOTEBOOK.

  23rd May. 1959.

  This evening I have just taken my old journal out again. Originally it consisted only of scattered incidents and observations. but I put it all into coherent form while I was stationed on the island of Santa Kytherea in 1955. Although I took another look at it last year, while I was in hospital after that Cyprus business, and tidied it up a bit for the sake of self-respect and the honour due to the English language, I never thought that it would have any value, other than as a private reminder of what I would really have done much better to forget. However, Gregory Stern is prepared to pay me handsomely to turn it into a novel. Though he has never seen it, he seems to have a very strong hunch about it. and all that on the strength of a chance word or two - for I very nearly didn't mention it at all. I thought of Christopher, and I was going to keep quiet; but then again it all happened a long time ago now, and Gregory Stern, on whom I must be largely dependent for years to come, was very pressing.

  In any event, there it is. I've undertaken to turn this journal into a novel ... a work of 'fiction'. I suppose the first step is to read it through once more ...

  The Journal of Fielding Gray ...

  On the second Sunday after the war in Europe ended, we had a service in the school chapel in memory of the dead. As many old boys as could be reached at short notice had been told about it, and the visitors' pews were crowded with uniforms. While all of us were wearing scruffy grey flannels and patched tweed jackets, the champions of England were hung about with every colour and device in the book. There were the black and gold hats of the guardsmen, the dark green side-caps of the rifles, kilts swaying from the hips of the highlanders, and ball buttons sprayed all over the horse artillerymen; there were macabre facings and curiously knotted lanyards; there were even the occasional pairs of boots and spurs, though these were frowned on in 1945 because of Fascist associations.

  At first the service was in keeping with these sumptuous appointments. A spirited rendering of 'Jerusalem', the political implications of which escaped most present, set up a smug sense of triumph; and that passage from the Apocrypha which they always have at these affairs, though it paid a decent tribute to the rank and file, left us in no doubt that what really mattered was material wealth and traditional rule. I myself had a place in the Sixth Form block which commanded a good view of the
visitors, and I could see, by this time, that the magnificent officers were openly preening themselves, as if the whole show had been got up solely in their applause. Indeed, when the role of the dead was called (a proceeding which took some time), there were unmistakable signs of boredom and pique; there was much fingering of cancs and riding whips, much fidgeting with Sam Browne belts; the warriors were not assembled, it seemed, to listen at length to the achievements of others. At the very least, they appeared to feel, the list could have done with some discreet editing.

  'Connaught la Poeur Beresford,' boomed the Senior Usher, 'Lieutenant, the Irish Guards. Died in a Field Hospital of wounds received at Anzio. Previously awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in the Libyan desert.'

  Well, that was all right: even the supercilious cavalier in the cherry-coloured trousers could hardly find fault with that. But:

  'Michael John Blood. Corporal, the Royal Corps of Signals. Died of pneumonia in the Military Hospital at Aldershot.'

  That, of course, really would not do at all. Or rather. It would do well enough provided that no one called attention to it. There was no need to drag it out in public, a sentiment evidently held by a young and marble-jawed major, who was obsessively stroking a huge hat of khaki felt. Watching the major sneer, I felt a guilty pang of sorrow for Michael John Blood, who had been scrofulous and bandy to the point of caricature but who had never sneered at anyone. RJJP. Who was this major to spit on the pathetic grave?

  But then again, who was I to be critical, even of a sneering bully like that? Shutting my cars to the grinding rehearsal of mortality, I reflected that my own state of mind, while perhaps less invidious than that of the gathered junkers, was comparable and quite as selfish. ('Norman Isaac Cohen. Captain, the Parachute Regiment' ... Cohen?) For the only feeling of which I was really conscious, on that beautiful summer's evening in the first Maytime of peace, was one of relief: relief that no one was going to kill me, that I could now proceed without let into a future which promised both pleasure and distinction. There was, for a start, a whole summer of cricket before me; and after that I was to stay on at school a further year, during which time I would be Head of my House (perhaps of the entire school) and would attempt to convert the Minor Scholarship, which I had won to Lancaster College the previous April, into a full-blooded Major Award. Thus a place at Cambridge was already awaiting me, and since my father was well provided with money (if not exactly generous), I could enter the contest with an easy mind as one whose motive was honour and not necessity.